


Metal flowers quiver with cold

by ifthenelse



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Multi, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Post Samaritan, Smut, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:14:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23612131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifthenelse/pseuds/ifthenelse
Summary: It all started two days ago when she woke up as usual to Root’s long limbs entangled with her own. She managed to pry the hacker off her and head to the kitchen to make some coffee when she was hit by a craving that she remains repulsed by.Soy milk.Fucking soy milk.AKA a collection of post samaritan tumblr prompt fills, one shots, drabbles and AU fics about team machine.
Relationships: Harold Finch/John Reese, Root | Samantha Groves/Sameen Shaw, The Machine & Root | Samantha Groves
Comments: 14
Kudos: 99





	1. Collision course

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet is a soulmate au tumblr [ask](https://sazernac.tumblr.com/post/614847235818143744/hi-about-the-soul-mate-aus-can-you-write-au) that was truly a joy to write.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
_This was completely unacceptable._

Shaw was torn between throwing her phone out the window and lighting it on fire. She glared daggers at the screen and flipped off the camera that she was sure The Machine was watching her through.

It all started two days ago when she woke up as usual to Root’s long limbs entangled with her own. She managed to pry the hacker off her and head to the kitchen to make some coffee when she was hit by a craving that she remains repulsed by.

_Soy milk._

_Fucking soy milk._

Shaw had never tasted soy milk. Just the thought of it caused her to grimace and throughout the years as she watched her wife pour the offensive liquid on bowls of cereal or in coffee, she never hid her distaste for it.

Root however, had always, lovingly ignored her.

Soy milk was a staple part of their food shopping lists and requested in lattes at Starbucks, and each time the words either left Root’s mouth or were written or typed, Shaw died a little internally.

“It’s not milk!” She told Root one day as they relaxed on the couch while watching TV. An ad for Silk soy milk had played during the commercial break of the movie playing and Shaw had flown into a rage. “It should be called soy product, or soy beverage, or how about soy shit because that’s what it looks like!” 

Root chuckled and stroked bear’s soft fur.

And now, for whatever inexplicable reason, Shaw had been cursed by a craving for it. 

In her madness, Shaw had reached out to The Machine to shed light on the impossible.

The soldier had faced the camera on her phone as she finished her workout in their home gym and said aloud, “Can you explain to me why I would have a craving for something I have never had (don’t say anything pregnancy related because no) and detest more than Root’s stupid bunny slippers.”

Her phone dinged twice in less than a minute.  
  
**Unknown {11:24 am): You like Root’s bunny slippers.**

 **Unknown (11:24 am): There is a myth among humans about soulmates craving the food that is being consumed by their significant other. If you are referring to soy milk, then you crave it because Root is drinking some from a glass in the kitchen.**  
  
And now Shaw sat on her work bench contemplating ways to destroy her phone and deter her wife from consuming any more soy milk.

The soldier stalked into the kitchen, silently fuming as she watched Root flip pancakes and finish the remaining soy milk in her glass.

“Root.” 

“Hey sweetie, how was your work out.” Root replied without turning around.

“You can’t drink anymore fucking soy milk.” Shaw growled out, taking a seat on a bar stool at the island. “And no, it’s not up for discussion.” She asserted, folding her arms across her chest for emphasis.

Root turned around and met Shaw’s dark gaze. Amusement was playing in her chestnut eyes and her lips were quirked up in a smirk. “Ok, but you can’t have steak anymore.”

Shaw narrowed her eyes and raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Every time you eat steak, I get a craving for it when I have been vegan since I was a teenager. So it’s only fair that we compromise darlin’.” Root explained while turning back to the stove to pull the last pancake out the pan.

“Did you fucking already know that the reason behind this is that we are supposedly soulmates?” Shaw inquired with mixed emotions, wanting to remain angry at Root but she had placed a stack of delicious looking pancakes on the island and was warming maple syrup which was two of Shaw’s favorite things.

Root chuckled lightly as she took the syrup from the microwave and met Shaw’s eyes. “I did my research when I started craving steak and yes The Machine confirmed my speculation.”

“And you didn’t tell me.”

“Well, I have had to put up with your constant negative comments about my soy milk for years and you know what they say, payback is a bitch.” Root stated smugly while plating Shaw’s food.

Shaw growled, trying to ignore the enticing smells of buttermilk, maple and coffee, and glared death at her wife. “I’m not giving up steak Root, so you better get used to it.”

“Well I’m not giving up soy milk Sameen…so you best make your peace with it.” The hacker slid Shaw’s plate in front of her and proceeded to fix her own, all the while humming some stupid song that Shaw knew she would have stuck in her head by the end of the day.

She could kill whoever had chosen Root as her soulmate.

But then, Shaw could think of no one better to share her life with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come hang out with me on [Tumblr](https://sazernac.tumblr.com)


	2. Irreplaceable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shaw reflects on her relationship with Root and wonders why Root chose to be with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted on [Tumblr](https://sazernac.tumblr.com/post/617503716727291904/write-it-motherfuckers-person-a-why-me)

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
Sometimes, Shaw found it hard to believe she had actually gotten married.

She had spent the majority of her life pointedly not connecting with anyone, romantically, platonically or intimately. When she engaged in sexual encounters, she never asked for names or numbers and she certainly never went on dates.

But, Root had been different from the onset.

She had known Root’s name, but not her phone number the first time they had slept together. 

Everything about it had been wrong, Root had kidnapped her, drugged her, and zip tied her to a steering wheel. Then, Root convinced Shaw to work with her while informing her that the Machine preferred the usage of a female pronoun when she was spoken about. 

They ended up in C.I.A hideout where the sexual tension between them was so thick it nearly suffocated her. Root was always looking, flirting and delivering puns that made Shaw want to both punch and kiss her and by the time their mission had ended, Shaw had managed both.

 _It was a one time thing_ , she had told herself and Root repeatedly. _We just needed to get it out of our systems._

Then it happened again, and this time Root had been saved as a contact on her phone. They began texting one another and calling when they couldn’t fall asleep, which ultimately led to more sex.

And eventually, Root staying over.

Then of course, they had to eat sometimes, didnt they?

Shaw hadn’t even realized that they were dating until Reese had begun making comments about the amount of times Harold found their two trackers always in the same location at night and the soldier threw all of her clothes into a large washing machine filled with hot water because no one bugged Sameen Shaw.

It was still unsettling to her that she and Root had been spending so much time together but she found that a part of her didn’t care. Root felt good lying next to her and waking up to having someone look at you like you hung the moon wasn’t as bad as she thought it could be.

But then Shaw had gotten captured and then Root had to fake her death and everything had went to hell.

For the period of time that Shaw had thought Root was dead, she had felt like a part of her had died with her and that she would never feel alive again.

But, Root came back into her life and Shaw was determined to never be apart from the hacker even for a moment and so, against all odds, she proposed.

They had been married for over a decade when one night, as they lay entwined together in bed, their skin still slick with sweat from their love making, Shaw asked a question that had been on her mind for years.

“Why me?” 

Root’s eyes had opened immediately upon hearing the soldier’s low voice in her ear, and she turned in her arms to face her.

“What do you mean?” 

Shaw blinked, a bit shocked that her wife had heard her and met her eyes with a glare. “I mean, you could’ve had anyone, so why me?”

Root chuckled and ran her fingers through Shaw’s hair, “Because you’re the only one I want Sameen, you always have been…is that really so hard to believe?”

Shaw thought back to all the times Root gazed at her with love and unending affection even when she had been cruel to her. She thought about Root’s endless pursuit of her when she had been taken by Samaritan and how the hacker still would risk her life to save her should something ever happen like that again.

Root’s loyalty and love had been unyielding and ever present in her life from the moment she met her, so no, it really wasn’t hard to believe.

Shaw grabbed a pillow to hide her face, not wanting Root to see the blush tinting her cheeks. 

The hacker grinned and wrestled the pillow away from Shaw who grumbled playfully until Root straddled her and held the soldier’s hands above her head, staring deep into her eyes.

“I love you and I chose you because you, Sameen Shaw, are complex, beautiful and absolutely irreplaceable.” Root asserted holding Shaw’s dark gaze. She leaned down and captured the soldier’s lips in a fierce kiss that took her breath away. 

“Okay?” Root asked when they broke apart.

“Okay.”


	3. Through sickness and health

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Root is a blanket thief

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Root shivered in her sleep as she pulled at the remaining section of the quilt Shaw had managed to steal for herself. The action left the soldier exposed to the cold air that permeated their apartment and she grumbled under her breath about selfish machine loving wives. Shaw was ready to give Root a piece of her mind when the hacker shivered again violently causing her momentary anger to give way to concern.

Shaw scooted closer to Root and placed a soft hand against the brunette’s forehead, frowning when she felt heat and sweat against her skin. Her wife’s symptoms indicated that she was coming down with a cold and a fever was imminent if Shaw didn’t do something to break it.

Very carefully, the soldier pried the quilt out of Root’s grip and pulled it away from her body. The hacker shivered again and Shaw instantly wrapped her arms around her and pressed herself flush against her wife’s frame.

The shivering abated and Root’s skin began to cool as her temperature settled. Shaw closed her eyes and began to doze off when her wife’s sleepy voice startled her awake.

“If present me could go back in time and tell past you that we would be cuddling in bed as the sun rose up on a Sunday morning, do you think you would believe me?”

“We are not cuddling.”

Root’s body shook with quiet laughter. “Oh no? Then what would you call this?” The hacker turned in Shaw’s arms and gestured at the closeness of their bodies.

“It’s called you were getting sick and I needed to break your fever so-.”

“It’s called cuddling Sameen.”

Shaw narrowed her eyes but made no move to pull away from Root even as the hacker’s features settled into a smug expression. 

Root closed the distance between their faces and placed a chaste kiss on the soldier’s lips. “I think you’re really sweet for trying to keep me from getting sick darlin’.”

“Yeah well, you kept stealing the blankets so. I had to do something.” Shaw said grouchily and met Root’s amused gaze. “I’m glad you’re feeling better though.”

Root’s eyes darkened suddenly and her hands began traveling over tanned skin and smooth muscle. 

“Root?”

The hacker smiled lasciviously and pressed the soldier back against the pillows. “You know I love it when you play doctor Sameen. So, it’s my turn to play naughty patient.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come hang out with me on [Tumblr](https://sazernac.tumblr.com)

**Author's Note:**

> Come hang out with me on [Tumblr](https://sazernac.tumblr.com)


End file.
